Press Room

Company News

The Technology Collaborative Awards Recent Round of Funding

The Technology Collaborative has awarded a grant to Accipiter Systems.  Accipiter Systems proposed research develops an algorithm which performs predictive switchover between multiple, diverse wireless links.  Predictive switchover provides a more available wireless communications system by evaluating the performance of the current link in order to switch to an alternate prior to link failure.  This research is in response to government agencies and commercial industries that require enhanced wireless communications to implement public safety systems, secure installations, and acquire status from field equipment.  State-of-the-art wireless networking uses single link technologies that can be disrupted by environmental factors or can be obstructed by buildings, foliage, hills, or other structures.  Agencies such as Homeland Security and FEMA require the ability to deploy wireless networks, with higher availability than is currently available, during crisis situations, such as terrorist attacks or natural disasters, in order to coordinate operations.

This TTC funding will allow Accipiter Systems to further develop its Wi-Hy product offerings.  Wi-Hy is a next-generation wireless system that will eliminate network dropouts and provide a more reliable network for the military, emergency crews, surveillance of public infrastructure and for public safety personnel.  The military, which widely uses robots to protect war fighters, will use the Wi-Hy wireless connection to safely and reliably perform surveillance of bunkers, tunnels, caves, and buildings.  The new system will decrease the threat of network dropout while increasing the diversity of scenarios in which robots can be used.  Additionally, the commercial markets which will benefit include wireless surveillance of power plants, dams, fuel depots and oil refineries.  The funding will be used to develop the predictive switchover algorithm which improves system performance for real-time traffic types like voice and video.

About The Technology Collaborative

Formed in January 2005 as the result of a merger between the Pittsburgh Digital Greenhouse and the Robotics Foundry, The Technology Collaborative is focused on growing companies and streamlining efforts to secure a balanced mix of federal, state and local funding to support the growth of Pennsylvania's world-class robotics, cyber-security and digital technologies industries.  TTC's mission is to develop an effective end-to-end strategy for integrating digital technologies developed by the state's universities into commercial products that are designed, engineered, produced, marketed and sold by companies based in Pennsylvania.